Social Europe must be, at the same time, a Europe of work, dignity and competitiveness, considers the interim Minister of Investments and European Projects, Dragos Pislaru.

“Today I represented Romania at the EPSCO Council meeting, dedicated to employment, social policies and housing, which took place in Luxembourg and was chaired by Cyprus, with the participation of the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Roxana Minzatu. The topic of these discussions at European level is very familiar to me from my previous mandate as Minister of Labour in 2016, as well as a Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs – EMPL. In my plea, I argued that social Europe must be, at the same time, a Europe of work, dignity and competitiveness”, the minister wrote on Facebook on June 29.

He mentioned that, in the discussions on fair worker mobility, he advocated, on behalf of Romania, for modern rules, adapted to current realities, with special attention to seasonal workers and those working across borders.

“We have a historic agreement on Regulation 883 on the coordination of social security systems, but we must already look ahead to the new Fair Mobility Package that the European Commission will propose this year. Digitalisation, through initiatives such as ESSPASS and the European Digital Identity Wallet, can simplify access to rights and reduce bureaucracy. At the same time, I supported the strengthening of the role of the European Labour Authority in cross-border cooperation and joint inspections. In the debate on the European Semester, I stressed that the social dimension must remain strong and connected to the future Multiannual Financial Framework. European recommendations must be linked to real investments that Member States need. I welcomed the launch of the EU Strategy to Combat Poverty, which is essential not only for social policy, but also for the competitiveness of the Union. Europe is losing workers every year, and the response must be activating people fit for work, through integrated employment, health, education, social protection and housing policies,” said Pislaru.

The minister specified that, for Romania, this approach is already part of the reform direction: through the NRRP, through the future National and Regional Partnership Plan and through the future National Anti-Poverty Strategy for which the development process has begun.

“We are already developing integrated community teams in 2,000 vulnerable communities and we are continuing the reform and digitalisation of public services. It is important that the poverty rate has fallen from over 40% at the time of Romania’s accession to the EU to 27.4% in 2025, but our work must continue.